CallNote vs Claras

Both are Australian file note tools, built around different choices. Claras records or uploads your meeting for you. CallNote turns a transcript your phone or meeting system already made into a sealed file note, and works across sectors: financial advisers, mortgage brokers, lawyers and accountants.

CallNote vs Claras at a glance

If you are an Australian professional comparing CallNote and Claras, here is the short version: they are both built in Australia, both store your data in Australia, and both turn a client conversation into a written file note. The difference is in how they get the words, and who each one is really for.

Claras is an established tool for financial advisers, built by Knkt Digital. CallNote is a transcript-only note tool for Australian client-facing professionals, including financial advisers, mortgage brokers, lawyers and accountants. So if you are an adviser, CallNote fits you too. This is an honest comparison, not a takedown. Claras is genuinely good at what it does. The point of this page is to help you work out which job you are actually trying to do.

The real difference: recording vs receiving a transcript

This is the one thing that separates the two tools, so it is worth getting right.

Claras records or uploads your meeting, then transcribes it and writes the note. In practice you either let it capture the meeting or you upload a recording, and Claras does the rest. It redacts personal information before the AI processes it, which is a sensible privacy step.

CallNote works the other way around. It never records, never sends a bot to the call, and never transcribes audio. It receives a transcript that already exists, for example the one your phone system or meeting platform produced, and generates the note from that. You get the transcript into CallNote in several ways that are live today: paste it in, forward it by email to a unique address, upload a voice memo (transcribed via Deepgram or Whisper), or connect Dialpad or Aircall so every call transcript becomes a note automatically.

Both store your data in Australia

This is where the two tools actually agree, and it is a real strength for both. A lot of the well-known note takers (Otter, Fireflies, Fathom, Granola) are hosted in the US. For an Australian broker or adviser handling client financials, that can be a problem before you even look at features.

Claras states that your data never leaves Australia and holds SOC 2 certification, with Australian Privacy Principles handling and PII redaction before AI processing. CallNote stores your data in Australia (AWS Sydney), is AES-256 encrypted, and is never used to train AI models. One honest note on CallNote: data is stored in Australia, but the AI generation step currently runs through a US-based provider, with all-Australian processing on the roadmap. So on data storage, you can pick either with confidence, and the rest of the decision comes down to the workflow around it.

Who each one is built for

Claras is built specifically for financial advisers and it shows in the right places. It is established, with its own claims of 500+ practices and 45,000+ notes written, and it pushes the finished note into the adviser's practice software. If you want a tool that records or uploads the meeting and is shaped entirely around adviser workflows, that is a strong reason to choose Claras.

CallNote serves advisers too, alongside any Australian client-facing professional: mortgage brokers, lawyers and conveyancers, accountants, insurance brokers and recruiters. It is not locked to one vertical. It ships a neutral General template as the default, an NCCP loan-suitability template for brokers, and a build-your-own option you can shape to your own file (for example an adviser SOA or fact-find structure). That means what is in the box works across sectors:

• A neutral General template as the default, plus an NCCP loan-suitability template that uses the s130 'not unsuitable' standard with a broker declaration, plus build-your-own for any other file format.
• Per-state recording-consent scripts for all 8 states and territories, because recording-consent law is not the same in NSW as it is in Victoria or Queensland.
• An append-only audit log and SHA-256 sealed lodged notes, so a lodged note cannot be quietly changed later. Amendments are appended and logged.

So the honest framing is not advisers vs brokers, it is one architecture choice. If you want the tool to record or upload the meeting for you, Claras wins that point, and it has the longer adviser-specific track record. If you would rather no tool ever touched your audio, you work across phone, Zoom, Teams and email-in, and you want a sealed file note with templates you shape yourself, CallNote fits, and that holds whether you are an adviser, a broker, a lawyer or an accountant.

How you write the note

Both tools follow the same basic loop: a conversation goes in, a structured note comes out, you check it, and you save it. With CallNote the action language is Generate, Review, Lodge and Lock. You generate the note from the transcript, review and edit the draft, then lodge and lock it so it becomes the sealed record. The whole thing takes about two minutes and saves roughly 10 minutes of write-up per call.

CallNote also lets you build your own prompt and house style rather than fitting yourself into one fixed template. If your file notes have a particular structure your licensee expects, you can shape the output to match it. Claras leans on its adviser-specific structure, which is exactly what a lot of advisers want, so again this comes back to which job you are doing.

Pricing, honestly

All figures here are AUD and current as of mid-2026, so check both sites for the latest before you decide.

Claras pricing (according to their site): a pay-as-you-go plan at $50/month for 4 notes, and an Unlimited plan at $139/month per adviser, with assistant seats around $39/month. The pay-as-you-go option is handy if you only write a few notes a month.

CallNote pricing: Solo is $149/month flat (or $127/month billed annually), and Team is $99/seat/month (or $84/seat annually). Every plan includes unlimited notes, and there is a 14-day free trial with no credit card. See the full breakdown on the pricing section.

If your volume is low, Claras pay-as-you-go is cheaper to start. If you write notes after most of your calls, CallNote's flat unlimited pricing tends to work out better, and the free trial lets you check that against your real call load before paying.

So which one should you pick?

Pick Claras if you want a tool that records or uploads the meeting for you. It is established, AU-hosted and adviser-specific, with its own claims of 500+ practices and 45,000+ notes, and a pay-as-you-go entry plan if your volume is low.

Pick CallNote if you would rather your tool never handle audio at all, you work across phone, Zoom, Teams and email-in, and you want a clean file note (General, NCCP or your own template) with per-state consent scripts and a sealed audit trail. That fits financial advisers, mortgage brokers and other call-heavy professionals like buyer's agents, lawyers and accountants alike. The phone angle matters here too: with Dialpad and Aircall live and voice memo and paste, CallNote is built for phone calls, not just video meetings.

If you are weighing up US-built adviser tools as well, our CallNote vs Zocks comparison covers a no-recording option built around US adviser CRMs, and how the Australian compliance picture differs. You can also see the full comparison hub for every tool side by side, or start a free trial and run your own calls through CallNote first.